“Well met, my lord,” cried the ambassador. “I was about to seek you. So, it seems all our projects are ruined. Courtenay is disgraced and imprisoned.”
“His folly has destroyed the fairest chance that ever man possessed,” observed the bishop. “He is now irretrievably lost.”
“Not irretrievably, I trust, my good lord,” replied De Noailles. “A woman’s mind is proverbially changeful. And when this jealous storm is blown over, I doubt not he will again bask in the full sunshine of royal favour.”
“Your excellency is in the wrong,” rejoined Gardiner. “The queen will never forgive him, or, what is equally to be lamented, will never unite herself to him.”
“You speak confidently, my lord,” returned De Noailles gravely. “I trust nothing has occurred to warrant what you say.”
“M. de Noailles,” said the bishop significantly, “look to yourself. The party of France is on the decline. That of Spain is on the ascendant.”
“What mean you, my lord?” cried the ambassador, eagerly. “Renard has not succeeded in his aim? Mary has not affianced herself to the Prince of Spain?”
“I know nothing positively,” replied Gardiner evasively. “I merely throw out the hint. It is for you to follow it up.”
“This were a blow, indeed!” cried De Noailles. “But subtle as Renard is, and with all the advantage he has gained, I will yet countermine him.”
“You shall not want my aid,” returned Gardiner, “provided you hatch no treason against the queen. And that you may the better know how to act, learn that her majesty is affianced to Philip of Spain.”
“Curses on the crafty Spaniard!” exclaimed De Noailles, furiously. “But I will yet defeat him.”
“The Princess Elizabeth will be liberated to-day, and sent with a strong guard to Ashbridge,” remarked Gardiner. “Courtenay will be kept a prisoner in the Tower.”
“We must find means to liberate him,” rejoined the ambassador.
“In this you must proceed without my aid,” said the bishop. “If it be possible to reinstate the earl in Mary’s favour, it shall be done. But I can take no part in aiding his flight.”
“Leave it to me, my lord,” rejoined De Noailles. “All I require is your voice with the queen.”
“That you may rely on,” answered the bishop.
With this, they separated; Gardiner proceeding to his own apartments, and De Noailles bending his steps towards the Green, debating with himself, as he wended thither, what course it would be best to pursue in the emergency. Nothing occurred to him but expedients so hazardous that he instantly dismissed them. While resolving these matters, as he walked to and fro beneath the avenue, he was accosted by Xit, who, doffing his cap, and making a profound bow, inquired whether the rumour was correct that the Earl of Devonshire had incurred the queen’s displeasure and was imprisoned.
“Ay, marry is it,” replied De Noailles.
“I am truly concerned to hear it,” replied the mannikin; “and I make no doubt his lordship’s disgrace is owing to the machinations of his mortal foe, Simon Renard.”
“Thou art in the right,” replied De Noailles. “And let it be known throughout the Tower that this is the case.”
“I will not fail to spread it among my fellows,” replied Xit. “But none can lament it more than myself. I would lay down my life for his lordship.”
“Indeed!” exclaimed De Noailles. “This knave may be useful,” he muttered. “Harkee, sirrah! Canst thou devise some safe plan by which a letter may be conveyed to the earl, who is imprisoned in the lieutenant’s lodgings?”
“Your excellency could not have chanced upon one more able or willing to serve you,” replied Xit. “Give me the letter, and I will engage it shall reach its destination.”
“Come to my lodgings this evening,” said De Noailles, “and it shall be ready for thee. As yet, my plan is not matured.”
“Your excellency may depend upon me,” replied the dwarf. “But I conclude, if I perform my task to your satisfaction, I shall be rewarded.”
“Amply,” replied De Noailles. “Take this purse in earnest of what is to follow.”
“I do not desire gold,” returned the dwarf, restoring the purse. “What I aspire to is rank. I am tired of being attendant to three gluttonous giants. If the Earl of Devonshire is restored by my means to liberty and to the position he has lost with the queen, I trust the service will not be unremembered, but that I may be promoted to some vacant post.”